Pablo Garcia

Learn More About Pablo García

By the time Pablo García '12 finished his bachelor's degree, he knew he was an artist. Yet his eventual path to MICA as a Rinehart School of Sculpture MFA candidate was unique. His undergraduate degree was in molecular biology, not visual art; and, despite his creative interest, he continued to pursue that discipline, eventually earning a PhD in neuroscience.

"I had an opportunity to pursue science in Madrid, but art was always a part of me. I made art at home. I felt that as a scientist in Spain, you learn in a dogmatic system. It doesn't allow you to develop your imagination," García said. "Now, I want to make a better approach to science and art."

His goal is to promote a more natural vision of the human brain in promotion of a more humanistic culture. It was in the writings of scientist Santiago Ramon y Cajal where García found true inspiration.

"As a scientist, you are trained to be objective and not use analogies or subjective thinking. Yet Cajal used metaphoric language and language based on nature in his writings," García said. "It was as though he was talking directly to me. You do find some metaphors used in current neuroscience, but they're related to computers or cybernetics. They compare the brain to a machine. If you see the brain as a computer, then humans are a machine. Machines reduce our humanity. If you think of the brain as something natural and organic, you have a different vision of who we are as human beings. This promotes a more humanistic culture."

In 2012, García began to bridge the gap between art and neuroscience via metaphor in his recent article, "Sculpting the Brain," published in the online journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. García, who was born in Madrid, has a bachelor degree in biochemistry from Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain and a PhD in Neuroscience from Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. He is a 2012 Baker Award nominee and has shown in exhibitions in the United States, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and Australia.